CHINA: NEWS
North Korea's lone “red light district” only serves Chinese tourists
Pyongyang has turned its Yanggakdo International Hotel into a special area for Chinese tourists, but it is here, in Pyongyang's only “red light district,” that North Korea even permits a sex industry. There is a sauna on the ground floor at which massages are offered; the most expensive massage, lasting 45 minutes, costs 25 euros. Next to the sauna area is an often-empty casino, staffed by expatriates from Macao and Dandong. The Solpong Center, across the Potong River from the Chongryu Restaurant, is another destination for foreigners. Prices on luxury goods are denominated in both North Korean won and euros, with 1 euro equivalent to 170 won. However, even in stores for tourists, there are not many objects for sale; alcohol, tobacco and crafts are common, and most are of Chinese origin. Tourists are forbidden from visiting local shops, which are located far from the luxury shopping areas, to force them to expend more of their foreign currency, as well as to keep the income inequality veiled (from both locals and tourists). The author's tour guide estimated that her monthly salary was a little more than 500 won (about three euros). – MSN Money China, August 25, 2015
Chinese journalist delegation returns to China after visit to North Korea
A delegation of six Chinese journalists ended its visit to North Korea and returned to China on August 28. The China Journalists Association, Hubei Journalists Association, Nanfang Daily Press Group, Legal Daily Press, Xinjiang Corps Daily and Inner Mongolia Television were represented. During the visit, the delegates toured the former home of the late Kim Il Sung, the China-DPRK Friendship Tower and the Korean Central Television Station, among other sites. They also participated in a discussion on news reporter training and other topics with local scholars and journalists at Kim Il Sung Integrated University. Upon meeting with the chairman of the Central Committee of the Korean Journalists League, the delegates presented a painting entitled “Yellow Crane Tower” to the chairman as a gift for Kim Jong Un. After formally welcoming the Chinese journalists, the chairman of the Korean Journalists League expressed that their visit would help promote brotherhood between their two organizations. – China Journalists Association Network, August 31, 2015
Trade volume across China-Russia-North Korean border rail link rises
Trade crossing the rail bridge at the Russian border with North Korea and China increased 23.1 percent in the first seven months of 2015, according to Russian sources. The information, published on the government website of Suifenhe, Heilongjiang province, said that trade reached 6.251 million tons, a 23.1 percent increase from the same period last year. Goods traveling from Russia were bound for destinations within both China and North Korea. Of these goods, 887,500 tons were exported to North Korea, an 8.5-fold increase. The exports from Russia to North Korea mainly consisted of coal, timber, petroleum products, machinery and equipment. – East Day, September 1, 2015
China-North Korea border city Dandong becomes part of high-speed rail network
At 6:06 a.m. on September 1, the new Shenyang-Dandong high-speed rail line began service. Dandong is China's closest-linked city to North Korea in terms of trade and economics. More than 70 percent of China's exports to North Korea transit through the port of Dandong, and the bulk of North Korean tourists in China enter through Dandong. North Korea's Hwanggumpyong Island Special Economic Zone is also located near Dandong. As a result of Dandong's new linkage to China's high-speed rail network, train travel time from Beijing to the North Korea border has been reduced to four hours. Coupled with China's ongoing plans to construct a large bridge from Dandong to North Korea, this project shows that China is still committed to strengthening its trade and economic linkages with North Korea. Despite criticism of North Korea's nuclear program, and tightened inspections of North Korean imports since the country's third nuclear test, China is promoting economic development in North Korea in an effort to take advantage of low labor costs and encourage reform there. China is in the process of constructing three high-speed rail links to North Korea, including the Guilin-Hunchun line, expected to begin operations in October of this year. – People's Daily, September 1, 2015
CHINA: OPINION & ANALYSIS
If war broke out, with what weapon would North Korea attack South Korea?
The recent tension demonstrated to the world the precarious state of affairs on the Korean Peninsula. In the event of war, the combined South Korean and American forces could defeat North Korea, but the North Korean military could inflict unimaginable disasters on them before that happens. Harry Kazianis has noted North Korea's five most deadly weapons, including dirty bombs, short-range nuclear-armed missiles, chemical and biological weapons. Other weapons, including missiles that could target the North American continent, will become more of a realistic concern in the coming decades. North Korea has released photos of Kim Jong Un visiting the Pyongyang Biotechnology Research Institute, and claims its purpose is to develop fertilizer. However, experts contend that the facility could, in fact, produce anthrax. In the event of conflict, it is feared that North Korea's growing military capability could paralyze South Korea's electricity grid, and attack a variety of South Korean and American military equipment. However, even with these potentially deadly weapons, North Korea is still an isolated country. While in the early stages of a war, it could inflict significant material damage on South Korea, it could not win a war, because the South has the solid backing of the United States. – Editorial, Sohu, August 30, 2015
JAPAN: NEWS
Trips to North Korea from Japan? New travel agency established
Travel agency Sanshin Travel, which specializes in trips to South Korea, has established a sister company, JS TOURS, offering trips to North Korea for Japanese citizens. Japan lifted its ban on traveling to North Korea last year, leading to an increase in Japanese tourists going there. “Seventy years have passed since the war and we need to put the abduction issue and nuclear weapons problems aside and engage in cultural exchanges between the people,” the company owner, surnamed Kojima, said. The first trip will be organized in October and will take tourists for a five or seven-day voyage around North Korea. The number of tourists from the West has been increasing over the last few years. However, most Japanese still have a very negative image of North Korea as a dangerous country. – Kyodo News,September 2, 2015
Office for abduction issue to be established in Beijing
The Japanese government is trying to push North Korea on resolving the abduction issue by appointing a special envoy in the Japanese embassy in Beijing. Mibae Taisuke, the former chief of the policy planning office of the Ministry for the Abduction Issue, will transfer to Beijing for this new position. He will be responsible for intensyfing contacts with the North Korean side. Japan and North Korea don't have official diplomatic relations and therefore embassies in Beijing have been used to contact officials from both countries. Mibae has been working at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1991 and he is an expert on Korean issues. – Jiji, September 2, 2015
Fan meeting for those who want to go to North Korea
Last year the Japanese government lifted limitations on travel to North Korea. This has enabled many Japanese to go to North Korea using Chinese tour companies. As the price for a trip can reach up to 300,000 yen, it's a journey only for people with special hobbies and tastes. The first-ever meeting for people who enjoy traveling to North Korea or for those who want to go there will be held in Tokyo. Most Japanese travel to North Korea on private trips, as there are no large organized groups. There is also not much information about traveling to North Korea on the Internet. – Zakzak, August 30, 2015
Interview: Former CIA employee on Japanese abductees "They're alive"
Former CIA employee Michael Lee has said he believes that Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea are still alive. During an interview with Sankei Shinbun he said that the North Korean authorities are “not telling the truth in order to cover up their crimes.” Those Japanese who were allowed to go back home in 2002 didn't know anything that could be harmful to North Korean covert operations, he said, while everyone else who had knowledge of covert operations against South Korea was declared dead. Lee said the truth will not be told until the system collapses. However, he believes that stronger cooperation between America and Japan is needed in order to resolve the abduction issue and unify the Korean Peninsula. – Livedoor News, August 8, 2015
JAPAN: OPINION & ANALYSIS
Kim Jong Un angry with Chinese-South Korean honeymoon
Relations between China and North Korea have become worse in the last few years. The alliance that was once based “on spilled blood” has more cracks than ever before. During the celebrations marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II one could clearly see which Korea is more important to China. The North Korean leader was officially invited, but decided not to go when China didn't agree to North Korea’s conditions. On the other hand, the South Korean president was seated almost next to Chinese leader and the North Korean delegate, who was sent to Beijing in Kim's place, was seated far away from the center. After the parade, the North Korean media have criticized both South Korea and China as a form of revenge. It seems that Kim Jong Un is really angry over this close friendship. However, with closer ties between Seoul and Beijing, North Korea might be isolating itself even more using this kind of rhetoric. – Youngki Koh, originally at Yahoo! News, September 4, 2015
SOUTH KOREA: NEWS
South, North Korean militaries lower military alert status
The South Korean Ministry of Unification announced that the “highest military alert” status had been lifted following the end of the recent standoff with North Korea, and that it was maintaining peacetime military alert status. Furthermore, the WATCHCON (short for “Watch Condition,” or the alert system used by and coordinated between the South Korean armed forces and United States Department of Defense to measure reconnaissance posture) had been lowered from WATCHCON 2 to WATCHCON 3. "As the ROK-U.S. UFG training ended on August 28, the (North’s) Korean People’s Army lifted its special alert status," said the ROK Ministry of National Defense. "No unusual movements were spotted from the KPA's front-line troops or missile bases." – Chosun Ilbo, August 31, 2015
Prosecutors want 15 years for Lippert attacker
The South Korean prosecutor demanded 15 years imprisonment for Kim Ki-jong, the attacker of U.S. Ambassador to Seoul Mark Lippert. "Severe punishment was necessary as Kim's intent to murder Ambassador Lippert and provide aid to North Korea was very clear," said the prosecutor, adding that Kim was charged with attempted murder, assault on a foreign envoy, work disturbance and violation of the National Security Law. "The accused charged and attacked the victim without hesitation and victim's 11cm-length, 3cm-deep wound shows that the accused tried to stab the victim instead of just cutting the victim's skin … Kim's intent to kill the victim was very strong and he repeatedly stabbed victim's vital body parts." – Kukmin Ilbo, September 3, 2015
SOUTH KOREA: OPINION & ANALYSIS
The effectiveness of sanctions on North Korea – true and false
Since the May 24 Measures (instituted in 2010), South Korea’s aid to North Korea has dropped to almost zero. From 2007 to 2014, humanitarian aid to North Korea decreased from 439 billion Korean won ($366 million) to 19 billion won. Despite South Korea's sanctions, data from the South’s Bank of Korea said North Korea's economic growth has steadily increased from -0.9 percent in 2009, -0.5 percent in 2010, 0.8 percent in 2011 and continued upward. My recent visit to China-North Korea border, for the first time in three years, showed that there has been much growth in North Korea. Old gray roofs on the top of North Korean houses were changed to colorful tin roofs, and factories near the Supung Dam were puffing smoke out of their chimneys. There were many cows in the fields – which I rarely saw three years ago – and lines of container trucks and transit-mixer trucks were heading in to North Korea. Many Chinese tourist buses were crossing the Yalu River to enter North Korea. If the regions near the China-North Korea border, which don't get much support from Pyongyang, have improved over three years, can we say that the May 24 Measures were successful at all? If they weren’t, we have to look for different solution to deal with North Korea. Clause 6 of recent August 25 agreement states that, “Both South Korea and North Korea decide to agree on many private exchanges.” Now should be great time to engage in a different type of strategy to approach North Korea. – Hwang Jae-ok, The Hankyoreh, August 31, 2015
Public support: The Israeli military’s secret weapon
We know the DMZ is isolated from the world. There are no public phones that soldiers can use to talk to their lovers, friends or families. Monthly salaries mean nothing to soldiers who work on the front lines, as there is no post exchange near their workplaces. The only time when the front line is mentioned in the media is when gun accidents take the lives of our service members. During North Korea’s recent artillery provocation on August 20, I was in the same conference room with an official from Israeli Ministry of the Interior. When I told him that I served at the DMZ, he praised me for being at front line and bravely serving the country. His reaction left me very surprised, as many times my fellow Koreans would say “That must’ve been a horrible experience,” or ask “How did you end up there?” After the press conference, I was riding on the bus with Israeli service member, he showed his military ID and the driver let the soldier in without charging any fee. Unlike Korea, all the service members in Israel use any type of public transportation free of charge. This shows how service members in the two countries are treated differently. South Korea imports military equipment and technology from Israel; the best weapon it could import from Israel is its public support for service members. – Roh Suk-jo, The Chosun Ilbo, September 1, 2015
Why is the ROK MND provoking North Korea?
To be honest, after the August 25 agreement, many South Korean authorities provoked North Korea, and none of those provocations turned out to be good for the inter-Korean relationship. For example, the ROK Ministry of National Defense official Cho Sang-ho mentioned the concept of “Operation Decapitation” to get rid of North Korea’s top authorities in the event that they showed signs of being about to use nuclear weapons. Also, during the ROK-U.S. Integrated Firepower Exercise, South Korea’s employment of a bunker-buster was revealed to public, and it is no wonder that North Korea took this as direct aggression by South Korea against the regime. The MND deputy minister’s interview with Kyodo News, in which he said: “Now there is a greater chance of North Korea's provocation against the South in October,” and “North Korea might have taken the recent 8.25 agreement as an ‘egg in the face’” gave no comfort, either. These kinds of provocations do not help inter-Korean relations at all, and the priority of the ROK government should be maintaining the momentum that started from the 8.25 agreement. We have to be strict against North, but at the same time maintain prudence. Careless opinions from government officials can be the stone that shatters the thin bond between the two Koreas. – Editorial, The Kyunghyang Shinmun, August 25, 2015
RUSSIA: NEWS
North Korea sends national choir for performance in Russia
The North Korean National Choir performed in the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow on September 1. The concert was part of the Year of Friendship between Russia and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, and was timed to coincide with the anniversary of the end of World War II in Asia and Korea's liberation from Japanese forces in 1945.
In 2015, Russia and North Korea announced that the two countries would deepen economic, political, humanitarian and cultural relations. According to the DPRK Embassy, such cultural exchanges will contribute to improving relations between the countries. – PolitRussia.com, September 2, 2015
Khabarovsk students learn how to be friends with N. Korea
A specialized class will begin at School No. 5, in which the children will be instructed on the culture and traditions of the DPRK. The class on Russian-Korean friendship opened in Khabarovsk, and its grand ceremony was attended by Alexander Sokolov, mayor of the regional center and Mun Ho, head of the Khabarovsk Office of the Consulate General of Korea in Nakhodka, and other dignitaries. The class will consist of 20 children, some of whom visited Pyongyang this year as part of a friendly exchange of delegations. They will first learn the traditions and culture of the two peoples, and will focus on the histories of North Korea and Russia afterwards. "At first, they will be in educational classes," said Mun Ho. “We help the children of our countries to gain a sense of each other’s traditions and cultures. Then, if we see that there is a demand among the students, we will begin to teach the Korean language. We believe that such a class will actually contribute to the strengthening of friendship between the young generations of our countries.” – Echo Moscow, September 1, 2015
Russia, N. Korea agree to share aviation resources
During the East Economic Forum, which these days works on the Russian island in Vladivostok, Russia signed an agreement on aviation cooperation with the DPRK. It was signed by the head of the Federal Air Transport Agency, Alexander Neradko, and CEO of the General Administration of Civil Aviation in the DPRK Kang Ki Sop. Leaders of the Russian and North Korean aviation authorities discussed the prospects for cooperation in the field of civil aviation, including air transport, introduction of Russian civil aviation operations into the Air Koryo airline and aviation personnel training. As part of industry cooperation between the two countries in the Primorsky region, leaders will organize educational programs for students from North Korea. Also, the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation and the General Administration of Civil Aviation of the DPRK agreed to cooperate in the field of aviation search and rescue. The document, concluded by the competent authorities of the neighboring states, determines the services responsible for air search and rescue and establishes the procedure for interaction between rescuers and dispatchers. It also stipulates the order of admission to the territories of Russia and the DPRK to conduct search and rescue operations. – Vostok Media, September 3, 2015
RUSSIA: OPINION & ANALYSIS
Putin and Kim Jong Un: Is the difference big?
Any conflict on the Korean Peninsula carries an obvious threat to the security of our country. We cannot say that Moscow is not aware of this threat. However, (in the recent inter-Korean dispute) the domestic Foreign Ministry only timidly urged the conflicting parties to remain calm and show responsibility. Moscow, for some reason, is in no hurry to condemn Pyongyang, which has shown a willingness to unleash a nuclear war on our borders. Of course, Moscow cannot help but rejoice that someone, even one hinting at the possibility of nuclear conflict, openly defies Washington. But it's not only that. If you look closely, it becomes clear that foreign policies of Pyongyang and Moscow are not much different. The basis of these policies is confidence in their own uniqueness and exclusivity. For the North Korean dictatorship it is the idea of Juche, symbolized by the winged horse Chollima. In Russia, it is the spiritual ties of baptism in Hersonissos, Prince Vladimir and others. From faith comes the exclusive certainty of absolute independence. Vladimir Putin says that Russia is one of the few countries in the world that have absolute sovereignty. Other countries do not have any influence on it. Moreover, its own citizens have no influence on political decision-making. Kremlin inhabitants often state that Western leaders are too dependent on their voters. Clearly, the leader of the glorious Kim dynasty does not depend on the will of the unfortunate inhabitants of the country. On a whim he can doom the North Koreans on an empty existence. Or plunge the country into a nuclear conflict. – Yezhednevnyj Zhurnal/Everyday Journal, August 24, 2015
